Despite the hot weather, which is typically associated with poor fishing conditions, there have been some exceptional captures over the past week. One standout performance came from Mark Griffiths, who won the Golden Reel Qualifier at Larford Lakes with a monumental weight of 445lb 9oz, made up primarily of big carp caught on the pole. This qualified Mark into the Golden Reel Final, which puts him in contention to win potentially £40,000.
“After a walk around in the morning and seeing fish moving everywhere on Match Lake, but not many signs on Speci Lake, I was really hoping to draw a peg on Match,” Mark said.
“Well, I drew Speci Chalet Peg 2. It’s an end peg, so even though I wasn’t convinced Speci was the lake to be on, end pegs are always worth having at Larford,” he added.
“When I got to the peg, there still weren’t many signs of fish, but as I was setting up, a few carp started cruising near the surface.”
THE BEST FISHING POLES WILL LAND EVEN THE BIGGEST CARP.
With the number of fish Mark could see, his initial plan of fishing the long pole on the bottom was quickly abandoned in favour of an all-out shallow approach. After setting up a few mugging rigs and a pellet waggler, he was ready for the all-in.
“I’ve had an unbelievable match mugging Speci’s carp on the trusty old Aventus 900 pole for most of the day, before I dropped into the edges and caught well for the remainder," He recalled.
“I’ve ended up with my biggest-ever match weight, a massive 445lb 9oz to win the qualifier. I still can’t believe how good it’s been. A proper red-letter day, to say the least.”
“It just goes to show that you never know in fishing. I totally dismissed Speci at the start of the day, and it ended up giving me a match like that.”
"There was some fantastic weights on Match lake too and that was won by Carl Brooks on peg 1 with 374lb."
IF YOU ARE FISHING PROLIFIC VENUES, GET YOURSELF SOME OF THE BEST KEEPNETS.
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